The Negative Review
Jun. 8th, 2014 09:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatLovely day, much better than expected. Got a ridiculous amount of compliments today on pretty much everything - which for some reason or other, I'm not used to and wasn't quite sure what to do with. Discussed this tendency with a co-worker recently, who agreed, he doesn't take compliments well either. Why is that? Why do we pick apart the negative comment or internalize it, but shrug off the honest compliment? Shouldn't it be the opposite? While I'm admittedly working hard to make it the opposite, I breathed in the compliments today and decided to forget the negative bits, I didn't quite trust them. I prepare myself for the negative review, ready with the snarky come-back.
Tonight, watching The Tony's, it's amongst the two or three awards shows that I bother with, after Hugh Jackman literally hopped on stage, they did a musical bit from Les Miserables, the showstopper - "One Day More". Now Les Miz is one of those musicals, that every time I see it - I feel this overwhelming need to show it to everyone I know. To share the music. The experience. For a brief moment, I'm convinced that if everyone saw this - the world would be a better place, that we'd have a meeting of the minds - we'd realize the world's wrongs, it would be...AMAZING.
Have you ever felt that? That weird need to share this piece of art that you absolutely loved, that spoke to you on some deep level, and believed really believed that everyone who saw it - would see or feel what you did? You'd connect over it, and have a bonding happy dance?
Then, well, it you are like me and decided to "share your love" either by blog or otherwise- you probably have had or experienced this conversation of some variation of it:
M: I just saw the most amazing musical!
F: Oh, what?
M: Les Miserables - it's so moving, and the music -
F: Les Mis? Really? That commercial piece of slag? That just crucifies the original book? You gotta be kidding me.
M: I just read the most amazing book - it's hilarious, not like anything I've read, totally innovative and different, blew me away! You've got to read this book!
F: What?
M: The Fault in Our Stars.
F: Oh, I heard about THAT. It's a pretentious novel about kids dying of cancer, with a too good to be true hero, based most likely on the author himself.
M: I've got to go home and see Buffy The Vampire Slayer tonight, it's this amazing show about a female vampire slayer that breaks all the rules -
F: You realize that's marketed to TWEEN girls, right?
M: But it's really adult and cool -
F: And so CAMPY. About high school, and it's not ever a realistic depiction of high school. With a cliche romance with vampires. Check out Freaks and Geeks, so much better.
Gets to the point that after a bit, you start ending your positive reviews with the following caveat :
"And yes, it's more than possible your mileage will vary on this. Or you'll hate this. Or it won't be your cup of tea. OR to each their own. Just don't frigging tell me! Let me love it. Okay? Okay?"
[And maybe if you are really lucky, I'll refrain from ripping apart the work of art you love. I've actually done that a few times, it never ends well. ]
The risk of sharing the cultural works of art that we love is the negative review.
The slam. The bash. The snip. The cut. Because no matter what you love, someone out there is going to hate it.
Really hate it.
Think it is crap on a stick.
And worse, feel compelled to tell you. They might even go so far as to write a lengthy review, snark about it, or rant on the internet. [Ghod knows, I have, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.]
Doesn't matter what it is, someone out there hates it, with any luck it won't be a friend or someone on your f-list. And, of course it hurts. Like a sucker punch to the gut. You shrug it off, but it hurts - because you so desperately wanted the other person to love it too (less likely the f-list), then you could bond over it. Talk about it. Share it. IF they hate it - that hope is sort of dashed to ribbons. And you might also feel a wee bit defensive and worry that they think less of you for ahem, loving something they think is "beneath their notice". I've been known to pretend that something I love is crap just to get along. I've even bashed things I adore as a defense mechanism. [Silly, ain't it?]
I've discovered over time that negative reviews have a tendency to alienate readers, to push them away. I had more readers when I wrote meta about Buffy or glowing reviews, the negative reviews or snarky ones - tended to alienate them or cause filtering. I'm sure I lost a few people when I made fun of certain tv series or the Buffy comics.
And to be honest? Over time...the critical roar of voices on the net shut down my writing. Every time I tried to write a story, I heard those voices in my head. I internalized them. And I'd rip into things I enjoyed, so I'd look cool. The critical voices made me physically ill. A cancer on the soul.
So, I'm wondering if Negative Reviews are worth it? Do they really serve a purpose?
Is it really that important to rip apart another person's work of art? Regardless of what you thought about it - they sweated and toiled over it. And there are people who loved it. You or I may think it's crap or poorly done, but does it matter? And critiquing it in this manner - does it serve a purpose? Marvel Agents of Shield is a tv show that various people on my FACE Book enjoy. They think its fun. They view it differently than I. More power to them. After a while, I grew bored of ripping it apart. And I've admittedly ripped things apart recently, but what purpose did it serve?
I don't know.
Perhaps it is all a matter of degree. Of tone. How constructive the review is? Do you as a reviewer provide enough information to inform another reader on whether they'll enjoy the book or be better off passing on it? This is true of positive reviews as well.
I wonder sometimes if it would better if we all wrote reviews as if we were writing a review of our own work?
I don't know. I've read and written a lot of negative reviews. Recently in fact. Most tell me more about the reviewer than the novel being reviewed. And I've admittedly read books sometimes based on the negative reviews.
It's not an easy question to answer. Negative reviews can be a kill-joy. They can kill another's joy. Take away their hope. Is it worth it? And do you want to people that person? Is that a power you want? Really? I don't. The idea that I killed joy, is not favorable to me. Makes me want to go back and delete those negative reviews, assuming of course I can locate them. By the same token...maybe we need them. How else will we know what to read, watch, see? Then again, we could always just check it out for ourselves...based on the description, frak what anyone thinks.
Tonight, watching The Tony's, it's amongst the two or three awards shows that I bother with, after Hugh Jackman literally hopped on stage, they did a musical bit from Les Miserables, the showstopper - "One Day More". Now Les Miz is one of those musicals, that every time I see it - I feel this overwhelming need to show it to everyone I know. To share the music. The experience. For a brief moment, I'm convinced that if everyone saw this - the world would be a better place, that we'd have a meeting of the minds - we'd realize the world's wrongs, it would be...AMAZING.
Have you ever felt that? That weird need to share this piece of art that you absolutely loved, that spoke to you on some deep level, and believed really believed that everyone who saw it - would see or feel what you did? You'd connect over it, and have a bonding happy dance?
Then, well, it you are like me and decided to "share your love" either by blog or otherwise- you probably have had or experienced this conversation of some variation of it:
M: I just saw the most amazing musical!
F: Oh, what?
M: Les Miserables - it's so moving, and the music -
F: Les Mis? Really? That commercial piece of slag? That just crucifies the original book? You gotta be kidding me.
M: I just read the most amazing book - it's hilarious, not like anything I've read, totally innovative and different, blew me away! You've got to read this book!
F: What?
M: The Fault in Our Stars.
F: Oh, I heard about THAT. It's a pretentious novel about kids dying of cancer, with a too good to be true hero, based most likely on the author himself.
M: I've got to go home and see Buffy The Vampire Slayer tonight, it's this amazing show about a female vampire slayer that breaks all the rules -
F: You realize that's marketed to TWEEN girls, right?
M: But it's really adult and cool -
F: And so CAMPY. About high school, and it's not ever a realistic depiction of high school. With a cliche romance with vampires. Check out Freaks and Geeks, so much better.
Gets to the point that after a bit, you start ending your positive reviews with the following caveat :
"And yes, it's more than possible your mileage will vary on this. Or you'll hate this. Or it won't be your cup of tea. OR to each their own. Just don't frigging tell me! Let me love it. Okay? Okay?"
[And maybe if you are really lucky, I'll refrain from ripping apart the work of art you love. I've actually done that a few times, it never ends well. ]
The risk of sharing the cultural works of art that we love is the negative review.
The slam. The bash. The snip. The cut. Because no matter what you love, someone out there is going to hate it.
Really hate it.
Think it is crap on a stick.
And worse, feel compelled to tell you. They might even go so far as to write a lengthy review, snark about it, or rant on the internet. [Ghod knows, I have, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.]
Doesn't matter what it is, someone out there hates it, with any luck it won't be a friend or someone on your f-list. And, of course it hurts. Like a sucker punch to the gut. You shrug it off, but it hurts - because you so desperately wanted the other person to love it too (less likely the f-list), then you could bond over it. Talk about it. Share it. IF they hate it - that hope is sort of dashed to ribbons. And you might also feel a wee bit defensive and worry that they think less of you for ahem, loving something they think is "beneath their notice". I've been known to pretend that something I love is crap just to get along. I've even bashed things I adore as a defense mechanism. [Silly, ain't it?]
I've discovered over time that negative reviews have a tendency to alienate readers, to push them away. I had more readers when I wrote meta about Buffy or glowing reviews, the negative reviews or snarky ones - tended to alienate them or cause filtering. I'm sure I lost a few people when I made fun of certain tv series or the Buffy comics.
And to be honest? Over time...the critical roar of voices on the net shut down my writing. Every time I tried to write a story, I heard those voices in my head. I internalized them. And I'd rip into things I enjoyed, so I'd look cool. The critical voices made me physically ill. A cancer on the soul.
So, I'm wondering if Negative Reviews are worth it? Do they really serve a purpose?
Is it really that important to rip apart another person's work of art? Regardless of what you thought about it - they sweated and toiled over it. And there are people who loved it. You or I may think it's crap or poorly done, but does it matter? And critiquing it in this manner - does it serve a purpose? Marvel Agents of Shield is a tv show that various people on my FACE Book enjoy. They think its fun. They view it differently than I. More power to them. After a while, I grew bored of ripping it apart. And I've admittedly ripped things apart recently, but what purpose did it serve?
I don't know.
Perhaps it is all a matter of degree. Of tone. How constructive the review is? Do you as a reviewer provide enough information to inform another reader on whether they'll enjoy the book or be better off passing on it? This is true of positive reviews as well.
I wonder sometimes if it would better if we all wrote reviews as if we were writing a review of our own work?
I don't know. I've read and written a lot of negative reviews. Recently in fact. Most tell me more about the reviewer than the novel being reviewed. And I've admittedly read books sometimes based on the negative reviews.
It's not an easy question to answer. Negative reviews can be a kill-joy. They can kill another's joy. Take away their hope. Is it worth it? And do you want to people that person? Is that a power you want? Really? I don't. The idea that I killed joy, is not favorable to me. Makes me want to go back and delete those negative reviews, assuming of course I can locate them. By the same token...maybe we need them. How else will we know what to read, watch, see? Then again, we could always just check it out for ourselves...based on the description, frak what anyone thinks.